"We've played well as of late, and I think we've got a lot of confidence going into this weekend," said center fielder Mikie Mahtook.

Mahtook gets a big chunk of the credit for that resurgence. Since getting back from Athens, he's batting .529 with seven RBIs and six runs scored. He was selected SEC Player of the Week after he had two homers and two triples in leading the Tigers to three wins last week.

The surge in production is helping LSU hitters in front of him. After batting leadoff against Georgia, second baseman JaCoby Jones has moved to third, just in front of Mahtook, in the Tigers' past five games.

With pitchers wary of putting runners on base ahead of Mahtook, Jones said he has seen an increase in good pitches.

"Mikie is one of the best hitters in the country É so with Mikie behind me, they're going to want to pitch to me," Jones said.

The freshman has three RBIs in his past two games, and he got on base in every plate appearance Tuesday against Tulane.

"We're starting to get clutch two-out hits, and that's what we were doing earlier in the year," Jones said. "I felt like after Cal-State (Fullerton, whom LSU topped three times), we didn't do that É so hopefully we can keep doing that."

LSU Coach Paul Mainieri said the upswing in offense should boost his team's confidence ahead of a series both clubs need to win.

"I don't think too much about what's happened in the past," he said. "If we had won 10 in a row leading up to this game, and you were talking to me about us being hot, I wouldn't confirm we were hot. I don't care about what's happened in previous games as long as the confidence is high."

The Tigers and Razorbacks sit tied for fourth place in the SEC West. This weekend's loser will find itself at least four games under .500 near the halfway point of the conference season.

"They had a tough weekend last weekend," Mahtook said. "They got a series taken from them by Alabama. We struggled earlier this season. We know what they're going through, and it only takes one weekend to get out of it."

The first half of Arkansas' season practically mirrored LSU's. The Razorbacks started 14-2 and have been good enough to climb into several national polls. They've hit a speed bump since the start of conference play, however, losing all three SEC series.

If history is any indicator, things might not get better for the Razorbacks this weekend. The Tigers have won six consecutive series against Arkansas and have a 51-23 overall record in the series.

Including a two-game sweep in the 2009 College World Series, LSU is 10-4 against the Razorbacks since Mainieri took charge in 2007.

"We've won there before, in 2007 with not really a great team, and then again in 2009, so we've had success there before," Mainieri said. "We don't think we're this great program that's much better than Arkansas, but we've had success against them."